HAMDEN, CONN- Heading into the second semester, 48 students have been displaced to temporary emergency rooms after a recent flooding disaster in the Mountainview Residence Hall on Mount Carmel campus.
A sprinkler head in Mountainview bursted on Jan. 18 at around 11:45 p.m. due to pressure buildup in the basement causing flooding on the second and third floors. Although the burst occurred over winter break, there were two students in one of the suites at the time of the burst, thankfully no injuries were reported.
Mountainview resident Ethan Hogan described what his roommates saw when the sprinkler bursted. “The top of their (Hogan’s roommates) closet. And so everything just flew off the top of their closets and everything…. It was all black oily type of water.”
The students were relocated to temporary emergency rooms in The Village, The Commons Residence Hall and Dana English Hall. According to Mark DeVilbiss, Quinnipiac’s Director of Residential Life, 24 students are still in the temporary emergency rooms, including Hogan himself. While DeVilbiss stated these are temporary emergency rooms, Hogan described them as common rooms.
“We’re in a common room in Dana (English Hall) it’s not bad… I mean six people though (so) it’s crammed…. and we got stuff everywhere.”
DeVilbiss said the university is aiming to complete the restoration by Feb.7. The university is working to learn more of the cause and finalizing the cost of the damages.
These students have had the opportunity to pick up their belongings to begin the semester, however most items were damaged. Hogan stated that students were told that the university would reimburse students of the damages, however no promises have been made.
“The school said they’re going to take an inventory of all the damaged things and hopefully we’ll get money for it, I guess we will find out,” said Hogan. Later he said, “A ton of shoes and everything, some of those got ruined, and his (Hogan’s roommate) laptops and computers and phone got broken.”
The halls of Mountainview were also severely damaged, one on the first floor is still closed. The ceiling is under construction due to the severe water damage. According to DeVilbiss, fixing these halls is the next step in the cleanup process.
“So the primary goal right now is to finish the last three suites that are being restored and rebuilt,” DeVilbiss said. “After that I know we’ll continue working on making sure the common area because the corridors were affected a little bit we’ll get those as well back in order.”
The students are understanding of the accident however are distraught by the damage caused, leading their stemster off to an unsteady start.
“I just wish we knew more, over the whole thing they (the university) haven’t really told us much,” Hogan adds. “It was definitely uncertain… we came back to a different dorm and all of our stuff and not having access to it wasn’t great.”
DeVilbiss stated that the university is consistently working to have functioning systems within the residents halls and the Quinnipiac community should not work. The university will respond with more information within the coming week.
